International Women’s Day 2022 – Gender Bias in Education

“Because with boys failure is attributed to external factors and success is attributed to ability, they keep their confidence, even with failure. With girls, it’s just the opposite. Because their success is attributed to good luck or hard work and failure to lack of ability, girls’ confidence is eroded with every failure. All this works in subtle ways to stop girls from wanting to be astronauts and brain surgeons. Girls can’t say why they ditch their dreams, they just “mysteriously” lose interest.”

Mary Pipher, Reviving Ophelia – Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls

Gender bias in education, especially in gifted and talented education, is a real obstacle to the overall progress of girls following their dreams and realizing their talents as adult women. As parents and teachers of gifted and talented girls, we must acknowledge displays of determination, encourage girls to take risks, be okay with failure and use it to grow, and help understand our role is not just to take care of others. It is okay to take care of ourselves too.

this Davidson Institute Blog Post, it says:

“Gifted girls crave freedom. They long for someone to see who they are, open the often closed door of their minds, and say, “Go, fly!” Since they cannot permit themselves to fly, they need the aid of a discerning adult. For gifted girls, a sensitive, caring teacher may be all that stands between quiet resignation and the beginning of the fulfillment of their potential.”

So many times, the smallest innocent comments made by an adult can completely deflate the potential of a young girl and follow her into adulthood. It is so much harder to overcome these learned social expectations and warped self-image as an adult woman. We must take action now and acknowledge that these biases exist, and make intentional changes towards a better future.

This change begins with fostering an environment of support, encouragement, and love. We build momentum by introducing activities that encourage risk in the classroom. We listen and HEAR our daughters when she says she doesn’t understand a concept, but assure her that not understanding one (or even many) concepts does not negate her gifts, talents, and intellect. We look for dynamic solutions and ask questions to understand how she feels about or relates to a problem. We take the opportunity to celebrate achievements that are not solely about how good they are at something academic or for being “nice”. Applauding creativity in and out of the classroom, shows of intelligence and perseverance, spunk, ingenuity, and other more powerful traits than prettiness or niceness reminds young girls that their potential is unlimited (this emotional fortitude will come in handy when they inevitably encounter difficulties as adults).

Female leaders should feel encouraged and empowered to lead by example and test the boundaries that gender bias has created in their lives as well – you are also creative, intelligent, not a quitter, a firecracker, no puzzles or problems are too big for you, and you deserve to be cheered on for everything you have achieved. More women than ever are graduating college, postponing motherhood by choice, leading companies of all sizes, changing the face of professionalism, and disregarding gender norms of all kinds. Regardless of your gender, as the trusted adults in our girls’ lives, we serve an important role as leaders – one that must be taken to heart.

“Understanding more about why hope fades is one reason that research about gifted girls and women continues.”

Dr. Sally Reis

Female ambition is still considered “ugly” and this is a stigma that has to change so our world can progress. In 2019 Forbes list of 100 most innovative leaders, only one was a woman (and she was #75). Just one year later, Business Insider reported that women are still uncomfortable describing themselves as ambitious at work, and instead fall into the likability trap of describing themselves as “motivated” instead. Aside from being worried about seeming professionally “ugly”, women still face more discrimination for their looks than men in the workplace.

Do female innovative leaders not exist? Doubtful. Are women not ambitious, or worse, not allowed to be ambitious? Are we the sum of our failures? A bias that a women’s success is centered more around her appearance, motherhood, and caregiving than having a voice is just one unfortunate way we tell our young women that they shouldn’t let their dreams get too big. It is our responsibility to foster hope in the next generation of female leaders and do whatever we can to prevent that hope from fading.

Gifted and talented education is gender-neutral. #breakthebias